Games - Fantasy or Reality?
Craig Branch
Those in the boomer generation remember the popular board games such as Gettysburg, Battleship, Monopoly, and even the Ouiji Board. And then there were fantasy role-playing games - cowboys and Indians, war games, house, school, and even seances. Throughout modern time people have played elaborate make-believe games with dolls, toy soldiers, forts, tanks and planes - all without causing harm.
But times have changed and Western morality continues to decline into more and more depravity. The social indi-cators reflect a continual rise in violent crime among youth; physical, sexual, and drug abuse; divorce; teenage pregnancy; abortion; suicide; and lately a significant rise in employing occultism as a way of acting out rebellion.
Much of the continuing societal debate centers on the role of media and entertainment in our culture and whether it precipitates or just reflects this cultural slide. But factors other than just the violence, horror and anarchy themes which are prevalent in television and movies (including videos), are gaining ascendancy in the debate. The factors include fantasy role playing games (FRPGs), like Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), Vampire, Werewolf and GURPS; "http://www.watchman.org/index-of-cults-and-religions#Occult"occult and/or violence oriented card games like Magic the Gathering, Battle Tek and Star Wars; violent and occult simulation games on computer or at a video arcade; and close on the horizon - virtual reality games.
What's the Controversy?
Dr. Thomas Redecki, a psychiatrist and chairman of the National Coalition on Television Violence, has given expert testimony at a number of murder trails which were connected to Dungeons & Dragons. He states, "I've found multiple instances of attitudes, values and perceptions of reality that were strongly influenced by an immersion in these games. When someone spends 15 to 30 hours a week dreaming of how to go out and kill your opponents and steal treasure, it's not surprising that the desire to act it out in real life occurs."#1
Consider a sampling of news stories over the years:
(1) Kimberly Ann Wilson, 20, her parents, and her sister Julia, 17, were found clubbed, stabbed, and strangled to death in a suburb of Seattle. The confessed killers were two 18 year olds who "liked playing the fantasy game Dungeons and Dragons" and who "had become followers of gothic subculture." The prosecutor, after examining the evidence, indicated that the boys murdered "for the sheer experience of killing."#2
(2) "The deaths of dozens of Italian teenagers in the past year have been linked to macabre 'role-playing' games which call for players to act out executions." The twelfth suicide, Roberto, "was a loner, he escaped into fantasy and sought refuge in an unreal world."#3
(3) According to the NFD Journal (National Federation of Decency), "two concerned citizens groups, National Coalition on Television Violence and Bothered About D&D," have documented nine murders and suicides of men, ages 12-21, whose deaths were attributed to deep involvement with Dungeons & Dragons (D&D).#4
(4) A teenager admitted to killing two Virginia Beach boys, 7 and 9, with a knife. He was a fan of D&D, and ac-cording to detective Hoffman, the boy identified with a D&D character, Kendra, and "would sometimes act like Kendra was there" with him. #5
(5) A 16-year-old boy stabbed and bludgeoned his parents and 14 year old brother to death in Easton, Maryland. He was an avid player of Magic the Gathering. He had recently published a story in the school newspaper talking about "a desperate battle against magic 'demons.'" On the morning of the murders, he claimed he woke at 4 a.m. and "sort of snapped.. I knew it was going to happen.. I tried to stop but it was like it already happened." #6
(6) A group of three teenagers were charged with the bludgeoning death of a Florida couple, parents of a fourth girl in their group. These teenagers were involved in the fantasy role playing game Vampire. Police said They "tortured puppies" and even "drank one another's blood." "Police said [the teens] were attracted to vampires by a best sell-ing role-playing game." #7
(7) "A Virginia Beach man.was sentenced.to 26 years in prison for sexually molesting [and biting] eight teen-age girls he [had] recruited for his vampire 'family'" through the playing of "a game in which players assumed the roles of ancient vampires."#8
Watchman has on file at least ten other newspaper stories from around the country describing murders and suicides attributed to D&D including one story that attributes over 110 deaths to D&D and other role-playing games from 1982 to 1988.#10
Who's Playing and What's Hot?
According to the popular gamers' magazine Inquest, the top 10 FRPGs are Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Vam-pire, Rifts, Alternity, Star Trek, Star Wars, Deadlands, Werewolf, Legend of the Five Rings andShadowrun. Many of the same FRP companies also have card playing games. At at the top of the card game list is Magic the Gathering.#11
Occult and violence-laden games are dominating the market. The largest provider is Wizards of the Coast, producers of Magic the Gathering, which acquired TSR, the publisher of Dungeons & Dragons, in June of 1997. #12 Wizards, headquartered in Seattle, employs more than 500 people and has international offices in Antwerp, Paris, Milan, and London. #13
The popularity and growth of these games are evident to anyone who frequents major bookstores and game arcades. Magic the Gathering, an occult card trading game advertises itself as "the 'intellectual sport' of the '90s," which "promotes strategy, mathematics and critical thinking."#14
Magic was released in late 1993 and sold out its first 10 million cards in six weeks instead of a projected six months. Today more than 500 million cards have been sold and there are "more than five million game enthusiasts in 52 countries," surpassing Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit.#15
The number two ranked FRP game, Vampire, has more than 100 websites linking occult enthusiasts worldwide.#16
The majority of game participants are between 18 and 30 years of age. Most are men but women are closing in on becoming 25% of the game's population. The profile of the typical gamer is "a fairly intelligent, inquisitive person who prefers spending disposable income and a few evenings a week playing mind games instead of basketball."#17 Participants are mainly students but the game "has cast its spell on lawyers, bank executives, and other professionals" as well.#18
Counterpoints
Game producers and devotees understandably react to any criticism. They take exception to what they call distortions and misconceptions made especially by "http://www.watchman.org/index-of-cults-and-religions#EvanChrist"Evangelical or "http://www.watchman.org/index-of-cults-and-religions#FundChrist.htm"Fundamentalist Christians. Rather than dwelling on evil they "argue most games are high in moral fiber - at least at the end. 'The basic premise is good has to win over evil.'" So says a spokesman from TSR.#19
Defenders of FRP games, imagination games, and other entertainment which utilizes witches, wizards, sorcerers, magic, ghouls and monsters point to the Wizard of Oz, Grimm Fairy Tales, and the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis (especially for Christian detractors).
The Game Manufacturers Association has created the Industry Watch Committee, ostensibly to "examine and respond" to charges of actual murder and violence linked to certain FRPGs. "In their investigations, the committee has discovered the not-very-surprising fact that gamers who commit murder or suicide do so for the same reasons other people do." The Committee's chairman, Michael Stackpole, says, "The argument doesn't bear out.. Just because people who may have problems play games doesn't mean the games cause psychosis."#20
Stackpole notes that the Association of Gifted-Creative Children of California, The American Association of Suicidology, and the Center for Disease Control have all conducted "extensive studies into teen suicide and have found no link to fantasy role-playing games."#21
A study published in the American Family Foundation's Cultic Studies Journal compared three groups-people who were Satanic "Dabblers," people who were regular "Gamers," and people not involved with either Satanism or FRP games. The study indicated that "the evidence is not consistent with the hypothesis that fantasy role-playing games are precursors to satanic practices," after comparing various testing measures between Satanism dabblers and FRP gamers.
Note: While the study found no significant correlation between the involvement with FRP games and formal Sa-tanism, it did show a significant connection between regular involvement with FRP games and inter-est/participation in the occult. While 11% of the non-involved group had played D&D or another FRP game (but were not regular participants), only 1% agreed to the statement: "Playing Dungeons & Dragons increased my curiosity about the occult," This compared to 36% of the regular Gamers group. Again, only 6% of the non-involved group had collected "a fair amount of occult related objects," compared to 23% of the gamers. Gamers' scores on the Satanic and Fantasy Envelopment scale were double those of the non-involved group.#22
The following quotes are probably a good representation of responses by gamers themselves defending their activity.
"We're not some crazy satanic cult that drinks each others blood.. We really don't think we're vampires, it's just a game - like Monopoly."
"My mom thinks I'm trying to escape reality. She thinks I'm going to join a cult." Defending his participation as "a safe and creative outlet," he writes, "When I found this game [Vampire] I had nothing else to do.I was bored. I'm really glad it's around."#23
"It's actually a great release and a chance to explore a different part of your personality."#24
In a letter to the editor after a story ran relating a violent murder to the suspects involvement withDungeons & Dragons, the writer stated, "The vast majority of D&D players are intelligent and imaginative people who are good students and solid citizens.. The media either don't understand or just don't care that the main theme of D&D is to cooperate with other players in order to defeat evil. Players almost always take the role of the good guys like paladins, white magicians, elves or priests of benevolent gods. Any game that encourages teenagers and others to use their imaginations in order to make the world a better and safer place for humanity can't be bad."#25
A second letter-writer who has been a gamer for 10 years said that he has observed "hundreds of attacks" from Pat Robertson's 700 Club and others. "These organizations are infamous among gamers for misinterpreting game lit-erature and quoting passages out of context as 'proof' that D&D is some sort of primer for would-be occultists..
"Concerned adults have every right to wonder what our youth are up to, but it is our obligation to find out the facts for ourselves and not fall victim to the political or religious agendas of those who make a career of slandering the D&D game."#26
Now compare the above with the comments made in an interview with Black & White, a local Birmingham bohemian magazine, "Reality gets to where it sucks now and then, and (playing) keeps me sane. It also lets you be a complete and total bastard, with no real-life consequences to your actions. I can kill an entire roomful of people, feed upon them in the process, and not have to worry about being arrested for it. You work out a lot of frustrations that way."#27
Christian Response
The Christian response applies to two dimensions - two audiences. One is to those who hold to a Biblical world-and-life view and the other is to those who do not. And with those two audiences there are various reasons, some of which are weightier than others, but collectively should be persuasive for anyone to avoid occult and/or violence laden games.
For a Christian or Jew, the Old Testament directly forbids any involvement with the practices in many of these games. "There shall not be found among you any one.that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an en-chanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer [consulting with the dead]. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord."#28
Many of the FRP games, occult card games, and action video games are occultic catechisms, filled with human sacrifice, spells, demons, monsters, psychic powers, and all the things explicitly condemned in Deuteronomy18. Other passages also demonstrate the evil sources inherent in the practices of the occult.#29
Other elements which seem to dominate these morbid pastimes are mortal violence, sex, themes which either mock or misinterpret Biblical truths, or themes of darkness and death. After all, the object of most of these games is to survive by killing your opponent.
For example, in the introduction to the player's book for the popular game Vampire The Masquerade the author leads the player into the world of the game: "Now we have admitted the magnitude of the problems we face and our seeming inability to affect change on the scale necessary to save us."#30
So what is the solution? God? Jesus Christ? No; the author writes, "Today we have caught a glimpse of reality, and have seen the truth behind the veil. We have come full circle and rediscovered the Fiend. We have regained our ancient heritage..
"We are searchers, forever looking for the uncomfortable truth of our human condition, searching within ourselves for that which is unclean, uncertain or impure.. By looking at the monsters we create, we gain new insights into our 'darker half.'
"Only by embarking on such a journey can we discover our true selves and look into the mirror.
The lure of this promise of spiritual connection is well-nigh irresistible."#31
The author continues, "You, along with some of your friends, are going to tell stories of madness and lust..Tales from the darkest recesses of our unconscious minds.These stories will capture your imagination far more readily than any play or movie..This is because you are inside the story and not just watching it.The horror of Vampire is the legacy of being half a beast, trapped in a world of no absolutes, where morality is chosen, not ordained."#32
So the "answer" that these types of games supply is to explore that "dark side" and sin nature and to use that power, violence, and occult help to overcome obstacles and survive.
Yet, the Bible admonishes Christians to resolve conflicts without violence. Christians are to be "not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing but contrariwise blessing." Christians are to love their enemies.#33
But what about the argument that "players aren't actually casting spells or killing people - it is just pretend"? The Christian's mind must be guided by the Bible which says, "Whatsoever things are true.honest.just.pure.lovely.of good report; if there be any virtue.any praise, think on these things."#34And, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not car-nal.casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."#35
In fact, when game defenders claim that the occult and violence oriented games do not include actual incantations, spells, etc., it is just not true. A trip to the local game store will reveal examples like four volumes of specific Wizards Spells and three volumes of Encyclopedia of Magica.
The Scripture clearly warns Christians to steer clear of such pursuits or involvement. Paul instructs the Christian to stay away from being unequally yoked to paganism, "What fellowship does righteousness have with unrighteous-ness? What communion hath light with darkness..And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols..wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not any unclean things."#36
In fact, there is a specific incident when Paul confronted an occult-ridden culture in Ephesus with the gospel. Many believed on Christ and as a result brought their expensive magical arts and books and burned them before all.#37
Most FRPGs present a world-view that is antithetical and sometimes outright hostile to a Christian worldview. Whether the games treat fantasy and the occult as unreal, or as a desirable way of life, either way is in conflict with the Christian message of truth.
Most FRPGs take place in a setting where the distinctions between law and chaos, good and evil, are often blurred. It promotes the lie that there is "white" magic, which can be good and "black" magic, which is bad. Yet even those distinctions are ultimately lost. Playing these games "you can incorporate your personality into how you play the game"#38 much more vividly than in other games or forms of entertainment. One does not merely observe the law-less environment and occult aspects of the game. One is immersed in that environment, and one must employ (thus participate in) the occult to survive there.
For Christians and non-Christians alike, many of these games also have the negative aspects of being addictive and expensive. Various news accounts report that games like Magic are "highly addictive."#39
Even the gamers them-selves "attest that it [Magic] is 'an addictive little game' so much so that they spend hundreds of dollars buying new packs."#40
The Christian response to the point that "C. S. Lewis and Tolkien use the same fantasy images" is that the lines between good and evil are not blurred, and the hero is usually a normal person in an abnormal world, who re-sponds to the occult as something to avoid.
A Word About Magic
Magic the Gathering is the most popular fantasy card game on the market. David Brown, co-author of The Seduction of Our Children details his objection to the game, "1) The primary focus on the occult2) The violent na-ture of the game 3) The addictive nature of the game4) The identification of the players with evil characters."#41
He and several psychologists and theologians, including this author, were asked to make a presentation to a local school district in Pound Ridge, New York several years ago as some parents were objecting to the game being used in their public school.
An evaluation was made by Dr. Paul Vitz, professor of psychology at NYU, "The idea of using the game 'Magic' to teach Mathematics or special kinds of rational thought seems to me absurd..The likelihood that the 'Magic' program reinforces irrational and superstitious mental operations is a serious issue..It would not surprise me if the imagery and plot structures of 'Magic' had a pro-witchcraft and pro-pagan agenda, and it undermined traditional religious world views (whether Christian, Jewish, or Islamic) in those who used it regularly."#42
Dr. Steven Kosser, a child psychologist and certified school psychologist, wrote an eight-page report detailing his grave concern over "Magic." He also noted in his report the comments from Dr. Paulina Kernberg "an internationally renowned authority on the subject of psychology, human personality and child development," with whom he concurred.
Dr. Kosser noted that "pre-adolescence and adolescence is an extremely volatile time," and that "children can catch 'emotional colds'," where hopefully the supportive care of parents or other adults can guide the child through. But, alluding to 'Magic,' "if some bad influence.is nearby it can take advantage of the child's temporarily increased vulnerability and really mess things up inside him."#43
Dr. Kosser's detailed concern for children playing Magic: The Gathering is that "it nudges them closer to two pathological beliefs: 1. That Magic is a way to effect and influence things and events. 2. That learning about, prac-ticing and playing games about conjuring demons, sacrificing creatures in 'hideous, cruel rituals,' casting spells to disable and kill your enemies and generally spending time thinking deeplyabout brutal, dark, sinister forces and how to control and direct them could possibly be healthy recreation."#44
Kosser notes that Dr. Kernberg "raised the issue of the potential legal liability of the school for allowing this game to be played on its property under the supervision of a teacher."#45
Kosser also makes a strong point that the game creates "cognitive dissonance" a powerful tool for manipulation.
Cognitive dissonance creates a tension between two loyalties, two concepts or self-perceptions. For example, parents, church, the Bible may teach one set of values which may be in conflict with the game. Peer pressure, the Game Master, or the game itself presents a conflicting influence. The child or adult may be presented with the option, "Am I big enough [or together enough] to handle a fantasy game about demons and sorcery or am I a wimp [or Mama's boy, or religious fanatic]?"#46
Writing about D&D, another psychologist who actually likes the game wrote, "There is hardly a game in which the players do not indulge in murder, arson, torture, rape, or highway robbery."#47
Still another psychologist warning about the emotional and mental disturbances that could occur from "obsessive participation in FRP's" wrote, "The greatest danger I see is the escape from reality. These kids take their own un-acceptable impulses and put them into fantasy.
Schizophrenia is a thought disorder and D&D confuses the way people think. Thoughts not based on reality are dangerous."#48
Other Concerns
Mediaweek is a trade publication for radio and television broadcasters. It ran a story, which raised concern over the "lack of educational value and violence on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers." It reported a study from Cal State at Fullerton which concluded that "children who watch 'Power Rangers' are prone to more violent acts [seven times as many acts of aggressions] than children who do not."#49
The recent incidents of schoolyard shooting deaths have focused attention on trying to understand precipating causes. Christianity Today recently ran a provocative piece titled "Train to Kill," written by David Grossman, a military expert on the psychology of killing, which may shed some light on this issue. The article noted that per capita murder doubled in the U.S. between 1957 and 1992. The aggravated assault rate increased more than seven times in the same period! One can assume these crime rates would be much higher but for the fact that prison re-tention rates have quadrupled in that same period.
Grossman notes that killing of one's own kind is not natural. It must be a learned skill. The military discovered that special training significantly enhanced the firing and killing rate of soldiers. "The training methods militaries use are brutalization, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and role modeling."#50
Grossman makes a good case that the amount of television violence and direct participation in violent arcade games, over a period of time, does much of the same thing they do in the military. He writes that from ages 1-6 children do not separate fantasy from reality well and are desensitized to brutality and violence hundreds of times by watching or participating in these forms of "entertainment."
Grossman cited The Journal of the American Medical Association which published the results of an "epidemiol-ogical study on the impact of TV violence." The study demonstrated that whenever television is introduced into a culture, "there is an immediate explosion of violence on the playground, and within 15 years there is a doubling of the murder rate" (p. 34).
"Today the data linking violence in the media to violence in society are superior to those linking cancer to tobacco. Hundreds of sound scientific studies demonstrate the social impact of brutalization by the media" (p.35).
In describing the second training method noted above, Grossman writes, "Our children watch vivid pictures of human suffering and death, and they learn to associate it with their favorite soft drink and candy bar, or their girl-friend's perfume" (p. 36). One might add the association with peer acceptance as well.
The third method, operant conditioning is "a very powerful procedure of stimulus-response, stimulus-response" (i.e., repeated). This is particularly evident in the interactive computer video and arcade games. When an enemy pops up to confront, the conditioned reflex is to deliver a lethal attack- to kill and enjoy it (p. 36).
The fourth method, role models, is reinforced through identification with not only werewolves, vampires, wizards, and monsters, but even sociopaths which can appear as heroes.
This desensitization and seduction into postmodern pagan spirituality in our culture can be further illustrated by the popularity of occult themes in entertainment.
Gerald Celente, editor of The Trends Journal observed, "Clearly society has a desire to look beyond the natural into the supernatural..a lot of society is pulling away from traditional religions and looking to ancient wisdom. There's a growing interest in astrology, tarot, cabala, and paganism, and it's all about a search for inspiration."
Computer games are still another source for the bombardment of occult violence. As was mentioned earlier, games of "virtual reality", where participants perceive that they are actually involved in the action pose a particularly dangerous threat. An example of a recent computer game which bridges the gap toward "virtual reality" games is Heretic II, produced by Activision.
Activision's November 30th press release is titled "Gamers Prepare for a New Religion ...". They claim that their software "will convert gamers to a new religion" set in a "richly animated medieval land" where players "embark on an epic journey across an enemy infested continent.... Empowered with an arsenal of spectacular weapons and magical spells." The game appears to combine all the problematic elements as described above, but adds even more realism as it delivers a 3D image which "combines the control and fast paced action of a first person shooter game with an over-the-shoulder third person perspective - a combination that fully immerses gamers into their character's experience." That includes "five intense deathmatch levels.... an exhilarating and immersive gaming experience."
Games and recreation can both reflect and stimulate the consciousness of a culture. For the Christian there is certainly nothing wrong with leisure, play, and even role-playing. But as always, all that we do should glorify God, within His moral limits, for both personal peace and a more healthy stability in our culture.
But the kinds of games described in this article reflect not just self-indulgent escapism but a dangerous and de-structive rebellion against all that is pure, holy and good. In addition to the promotion of violence, anarchy, and access to the occult, these types of "recreation" are indicative of widespread dissatisfaction and disillusionment in the absence of moral absolutes and anchors.
In view of this onslaught of deception and depravity, Christians need to heed God's word and "not be conformed to this world: but be.transformed by the renewing of [their] mind[s]." Christians need not only to shun participation, but also need to share their concerns and especially their faith with others.
2 People, June 23, 1997, pp. 51-2.
3 John Phillips, "Spate of Suicides Linked to U.S. Game," Sunday Times (London) June 9, 1996.
4 NFD Journal, March, 1985, p. 23.
5 J.P. Sherwood, "Virginia Beach Jury Hears Tape of Youth," The Washington Post, March 6, 1992.
6 Amy Argetsinger, "Teen Pleads Guilty to 3 Murders," The Washington Post, January 22, 1997, p. B3.
7 Deborah Sharp, "Vampire Game is Bizarre Twist to Florida Slayings," USA Today, December 9, 1996, p. 3A.
8 Mike Schneider, "Vampire Clan Teens in Court," Associated Press, AOL News, March 21, 1997.
9 "Va. 'Vampire' Gets 26-Year Term," The Washington Post, January 7, 1997, p. B5.
10 Joe Walker, "Games Too Close to Witchcraft, D & D Critics Say," Paducah Sun, April 5, 1988.
11 "What's Hot," Inquest Issue 44, December 1998, p. 26.
12 "Wizards of the Coast Completes Acquisition of TSR Inc." Wizards of the Coast News Release, June 3, 1997.
13 "Wizards of the Coast Announces New Employees and Promotions," Wizards of the Coast News Release, August 6, 1998.
14 "Magic: The Gathering Worldwide Phenomenon to Attract Thousands for Tokyo Tournament of Champions," Wizards of the Coast News Release, June 23, 1998.
15 "Entrepreneur of the Year" Wizards of the Coast News Release, July 5, 1995, also, August 7, 1998.
16 Wendy Case, "Where the Vampires Lurk: Metro Detroiters Play Creatures of the Night in Masquerade Game" Detroit News, June 20, 1998.
17 David Zizzo, "Role-Playing Devotees Expert at Mind Games," The Daily Oklahoman, February 20, 1995, p.9.
18 Steve Bates, "A Craze for Dealing in 'Magic'," The Washington Post, August 2, 1995, p. D3.
19 Zizzo, p. 9.
20 Eric Black, "Does God Cry When You Play Dungeons & Dragons," Inquest, August 1995, p. 32.
21 Ibid.
22 Stuart Leeds, "Personality, Belief in the Paranormal, and Involvement with Satanic Practices Among Young Adult Males: Dabblers Versus Gamers," Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 12, No. 2, 1995, pp. 148-165.
23 Case.
24 Ibid.
25 "Dungeons, Dragons and Great High Dudgeon," The Washington Post, May 4, 1991, p. A21.
26 Ibid.
27 Joseph Dickerson, "A Bloodsucking Game," Black and White, October, p. 54.
28 Deuteronomy 18:10-12.
29 Exodus 8:18-19; 2 Kings 21:1-9; Acts 8:9-24; 13:4-12; Exodus 22:18, Isaiah 47:9-15; Nahum 3:4; Matthew 24:24; Revelation 22:15.
30 Mark Rein-Hagen, Vampire The Masquerade, (Clarkston: White Wolf, 1992) p. 4.
31 Ibid., pp. 4-5; emphasis added).
32 Ibid., p. 21.
33 1 Peter 3:9a; Matthew 5:43-48.
34 Philippians 4:8.
35 2 Corinthians 10:3-5.
36 2 Corinthians 6:14-17.
37 Acts 19:18-19.
38 Mike Snider, "Card Game Draws Players Like Magic," USA Today, August, 12, 1994.
39 Ibid.
40 "It's Not Just a Game," Time International, September, 12, 1994.
41 David Brown, "Beware of Magic: The Gathering,TM" N.p., August 1995.
42 Letter on file, June 16, 1995.
43 Steven Kosser, The Kosser Education Newsletter, Vol. 3, No. 10a, pp. 1-2.
44 Ibid., pp. 2-3; emphasis Kosser's.
45 Ibid., p. 3.
46 Ibid., p. 4.
47 Peter Leithart and George Grant, A Christian Response to Dungeons & Dragons, [Fort Worth: Dominion Press, 1987] p. 5).
48 Ibid., p. 8.
49 Cheryl Heuton, Mediaweek, November 14, 1994, p. 3; quoted in David Brown, "How Toys Influence Children," N.p., n.d.
50 David Grossman, "Trained to Kill," Christianity Today, August 10, 1998, p. 34.
51 Ibid.
52 Activision, Inc., "Gamers Prepare for a New Religion as Activision Ships Raven Software's Heretic II,"AOL News, November 30, 1998.
53 Romans 12:2.